The word Ainu is Quenya and is related to words for "holiness" such as aina; the female form (for beings like Melian or Árien, is given as Aini. Supposedly it is derived from the original Valarin word for Ainur which was Ayanûz. They are also referred to as Great Ones or Holy Ones.
Quenya
Ainu
holy one, angelic spirit
ainu
noun. holy one, spirit, holy one, angelic spirit (m.); [ᴱQ.] (pagan) god
Cognates
- ᴺS. Aenu “(male) angel”
Derivations
- √AYA(N) “blessed; treat with awe/reverence, blessed; treat with awe/reverence; [ᴱ√] honour, revere” ✧ PE17/146; PE17/149
- Q. aina “holy, revered, numinous, holy, revered, numinous, *divine, [ᴱQ.] worshipful” ✧ PE17/149
- √AYA(N) “blessed; treat with awe/reverence, blessed; treat with awe/reverence; [ᴱ√] honour, revere” ✧ PE17/149; PE17/149; VT43/14
- Val. ayanūz “Ainu” ✧ WJ/399
Element in
- Q. Ainulindalë “Music of the Ainur” ✧ S/015
Elements
Word Gloss aina “holy, revered, numinous, holy, revered, numinous, *divine, [ᴱQ.] worshipful” Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √AYA > ainu [ajnū] > [ainū] > [ainu] ✧ PE17/146 √AYA-N > ainur [ajnū] > [ainū] > [ainu] ✧ PE17/149 Q. aina > ainu [ajnū] > [ainū] > [ainu] ✧ PE17/149 Val. ayanūz > Ainu [ájanū] > [ajnū] > [ainū] > [ainu] ✧ WJ/399 Variations
- ainu ✧ PE17/146; PE17/149
ainur
Ainur
-a
it is said
-r nominative plural ending regularly used on nouns ending in -a, -i, -ië, -o, -u, e.g. Ainur, Valar, tier. Occasionally it is added also to nouns ending in -ë (that normally take the ending -I in the pl.). This seems to regularly happen in the case of nouns in -lë (see #fintalë, mallë, tyellë), sometimes also otherwise (see Ingwë, wendë, essë #1). This plural ending was ("it is said") first used by the Noldor (PM:402).
Ainu noun "holy one, angelic spirit"; fem. Aini (AYAN, LT1:248); "one of the 'order' of the Valar and Maiar, made before Eä"; pl. Ainur is attested. Adopted and adapted from Valarin ayanūz(WJ:399). In the early "Qenya Lexicon", ainu was glossed "a pagan god", and aini was similarly "a pagan goddess", but as Christopher Tolkien notes, "Of course no one within the context of the mythology can call the Ainur 'pagan' " (LT1:248). Ainulindalë noun "Music of the Ainur" (SA:lin #2), the First History (WJ:406), the Song of Creation (AYAN)